How Do Bone Spurs Form?
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The Formation
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Basically, a bone spur forms as a response to some sort of stimuli. It's the way in which the body essentially attempts to mend itself. When a part of the body, such as the heel of your foot or the joint in your shoulder, is constantly put under stress through the likes of pressure, impact or rubbing, the bone actually reacts as if it has been injured, which it ultimately has in some way. To repair itself, the bone begins to form another bone on top of itself at the point of stress. This new bone is a bone spur.
The Pain
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At the very beginning of the formation of this bone spur, most people will never know that it's even happening. It isn't until the "extra" bone begins to place pressure on nerves or starts to rub on other bones and tendons that any symptoms will ever manifest. The most common of these symptoms will be pain, usually isolated to the area where the bone spur has developed. Sometimes, a bone spur will grow to the point where it begins to affect the way in which that portion of the body moves, namely when it is located near or on a joint. However, what type of symptoms you may encounter depends on the location of the bone spur.
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The Cause
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As mentioned before, a bone spur is caused by perpetual stress placed on a given bone in the body. This stress may be due to a repetitive motion, like in the shoulder of a pitcher on a baseball team. It could be due to constant impact, like in the heel of a runner or dancer. It could even be from pinching placed on the foot from poorly fitted shoes or continuous stress placed on the joint from excess weight. Really, a bone spur can form on any area of the body where there is a bone that is being put through some sort of stress.
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